Taking Care of Collectibles and Merchandise from a Sports Merchandise Sale
Everyone knows that Americans are inclined to sports, whether they are spectators or actual athletes. If you notice, during the sports season, stadiums are chock full of screaming and jumping fans and season tickets are sold out weeks before the actual sporting event.
There are different seasons for every sport. One of the most anticipated seasons is football season. During this period, fans cheer and go hysterical seeing their favorite state team battle it out with another team. Their hearts beat with excitement as their favorite muscled players outrun, tackle, or block equally muscled opponents in the attempt to score a goal. Each state in the country is represented by its own football team. For example, Maryland has its own team, the Baltimore Ravens. Texas has its own Dallas Cowboys. Illinois has the mighty Chicago Bears.
Football season is also a good opportunity for business. With all residents coming out, with visitors from other states or countries coming in, commerce is virtually bursting with activity. Hotel rooms are filled, housing the visiting teams. Motels are fully booked with visitors coming in to watch their home team play. Restaurants and cafes are open all night long to serve both athletes and fans alike.
Retail stores too take advantage of the sports season by having a sports merchandise sale. Team shirts, caps, sweatshirts, gloves, teddy bears, car decorations, and other memorabilia usually sold to fans. It is not uncommon that a lot of merchandise is sold out weeks or days before a football season.
Many fans and football enthusiasts are also collectors of sports merchandise. Collecting football team items is serious business for most of them. Sports enthusiasts go to great lengths trying to find the first footballs, autographed T-shirts, and memoirs of their favorite football players and are willing to pay a great amount of money to acquire such items.
Is collecting these items worth it? For the typical football fan, the answer is yes. They are very supportive of their home teams, and to show their loyalty and pride, they wear or display their team’s merchandise.
If you have football merchandise to show off to other people or to make a statement of your loyalty to your home team, you have to take care of them, making sure that they look as good as new.
Here are some tips on how to maintain your priceless collection.
1. The first thing to do before even getting that sought-for item home during an NFL merchandise sale is to check the quality. For instance, make sure that there are no tears or holes in jerseys and stuffed toys. No flaking should be seen on the surfaces of a team football. Heads of bobhead dolls should be able to bounce up and down freely.
2. Once you purchase the item, keep it in its package or wrapper. Do not open it until you reach home. The wrapper acts like a brace or a temporary protective cover for the item until it reaches the safety of your display area.
Handle the package with care, especially if the package is not hard shell. Items in soft-shell packages such as plastic bags and cloth may get damaged if handled roughly.
3. Display your collectibles in a place protected from nature’s elements. Obviously, you should not place them outside. Even if the merchandise is meant to be placed outside, such as a banner, it will wear and fade in time. Only display such items occasionally and only for a short time.
Place your favorite Chicago Bears merchandise in a dust-free environment. Dust can easily ruin the looks and the quality of your collectible. Place the items away from direct sunlight; sunlight can actually fade away the colors. Do not allow them to become wet with moisture without drying the merchandise.
4. Over time, minute particles of dust, grit, and grime will usually accumulate in the recesses of the items you are displaying. Therefore, you need to regularly dust and wipe them clean. An old soft paintbrush will do fine, but a camel’s hair blow brushthe one used by photographers to clean their lensis best.
After brushing away the dust, it is time to wipe the item clean with a dry, lint-free cloth. You can find lint-free cloth in computer stores; these are used to clean laptops and personal computers. You can also get these kinds of cloths in car accessory shops.
5. Sometimes, the grit becomes encrusted on the collectible; this usually happens when the collectible has been sitting there for a long time or if it is placed in a dust prone area. For example, your favorite Chicago Bears car accessories will surely be covered in dust after a cruise in your convertible with the top down.
Take the accessory and wipe it with a damp cloth. If there are still specks of dust left, you might want to take a Q-tip, dip it in lighter fluid, and scrub the specks away. Obviously, you can’t do this to jerseys, clothes, and items made of cloth.
6. If you wish to hang a banner or a jersey on the wall, do not pin or use tacks. This will damage the material, and when stretched, would increase the size of the hole, which may result in an ugly tear.
Instead, try to use those wall hangers that are available in home supply stores. Tie a piece of string at the corner of the jersey or banner. Tie the other end at the wall hanger. This way, you don’t have to make a hole in the item.
7. Display your collectibles properly and safely. For example, if you hang your Chicago Bears Christmas decorations on the tree, don’t hang it at the tip of the branch. Position it at the base of the branch. If you want to display your bobhead doll, don’t put it on top of your speaker system; the vibration will knock it over, letting it fall on the floor.
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